Homesick

Someone said to me yesterday, "Don't get too homesick." An interesting phrase, really. Homesick. Thus meaning the place where you currently reside isn't "home", even if we want it that way. So where, then, is home? Is it a physical place? Is it in the arms of a loved one? Is it with family and friends? It is found in an experience, a song, a moment, a memory, a feeling? Maybe in all of these?

I always thought it to be the highest compliment when a love declares, "You feel like home to me." Because home is where you can relax and be your most authentic self. When someone admits they feel that with your presence, well isn't that the highest form of praise: the ability to break down someone's metaphorical walls? Don't we all have them? Don't we all want them crumbled as a pile of dust crushed forever?

I suppose for now home is where our family and friends are. The candy deliveryman wasn't too far off when he said, "Don't get too homesick" because if home is where they are, then we (my husband and I) are not really "home" right now. Except that we are. My husband and our "children" (cats) are here in Pennsylvania, not Florida (A.K.A. the family state). So perhaps home can be a multitude of people and places, and that's why we never truly feel settled.

 

Florida: the state that holds my family (and awesome beaches...and winters)

 

This is Pennsylvania, for all my geographically-challenged people out there. Don't be ashamed. We're only known for our chocolate, groundhogs, sports teams, historical landmarks and events (i.e. the Liberty Bell, the Declaration of Independence), and Amish people. You know, just a few unimportant things. </sarcasm>

Johnny Cash: "Hurt"